What is a Scientist?

Table of Contents

The word scientist is a general term, used to describe someone who researches and examines various aspects of the physical world in order to attain a better understanding of how things work and function. There are many specializations of 'scientist', and depending on which field of study one chooses to follow, the work can vary greatly. Each scientist, however, follows 'the scientific method', which is a strict set of rules that ensure all new discoveries are factual and not just speculation.

What does a Scientist do?

Scientists work in every field imaginable, and can therefore be found working for an expansive range of employers. Large and small companies will hire scientists to work on products and research projects. Universities will hire scientists to do research work or to teach. Governments and hospitals issue research grants and hire scientists to work on funded projects. Regardless of the path the scientist decides to follow, the ultimate goal is to always add knowledge and insight to the larger scientific community, as well as to help ignite new discoveries for the future.

The following are various types of scientists. Click on each type to learn what they do.

Chemist
- studies the composition, structure, and properties of substances and their reactions

Biochemist
- studies the chemical and physical principles of living things and biological processes

Find your perfect career

What is the workplace of a Scientist like?

Where don't scientists work? A scientist can be found almost anywhere: universities, government facilities, company labs, for-profit companies, in space, on ships, underground, in hospitals, in private practice and in forests. Pretty much anywhere in the world, and in any industry, there are scientists working in their particular field.

Whether a mathematician can be called a scientist or not is a somewhat grey area which is not
definitive. Strictly speaking, mathematicians are not considered natural scientists. The latter
investigate the physical world; mathematicians’ work is more abstract and intangible.

Nevertheless, some of the traits one may find in a scientist – an investigative spirit, an
enthusiasm for discovery, a voracious appetite for constant learning – can be found in a
mathematician.

The general population, not involved in either science or mathematics, tend to categorize both
in the one field. However, the majority of mathematicians would not consider themselves as
scientists. Conversely, scientists would not label themselves mathematicians.

Mathematicians deal in absolute truths and must emerge with proof for a theory or hypothesis
to be confirmed, while scientists can hypothesize and conditionally accept the results of the
hypothesis. This is why mathematicians’ work is almost never redacted at a later date but
sometimes scientists’ work can be revised or disproven.